Indian Court says Yes to BRT Bus Lanes

In January, an 84-year-old activist filed a lawsuit in the public interest asking an Indian court to scrap a road project in South Delhi that carved out separate space for buses, pedestrians and cyclists.

One of his arguments was that car users are special, therefore deserve to travel faster, and were being hindered by the BRT, as it is known, which includes a dedicated bus lane.

In his petition, B.B. Sharan wrote, “No consideration is given to the value of the time of the car users who are generally wealth creators such as managers, directors etc. as they waste extra 20 minutes on travelling on BRT Route.”

Bus commuters, not being as important, could afford to lose a few minutes here or there, he told The Wall Street Journal in May.

As the case was heard, and a traffic institute carried out a trial that involved throwing the bus lane open to other traffic, proponents of public transport grew increasingly concerned. They can now heave a sigh of relief.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday declared itself unpersuaded by Mr. Sharan’s arguments. But it tried not to frame the discussion solely in terms of class.

“The issue is not of a debate between a car and a bus or an individual car user and an individual bus user,” said Judges Pradeep Nandrajog and Manmohan Singh. “The issue is large: one of urban transport policy.”

The court seemed to agree with public transport experts who warn that with roads, the maxim “if you build it, they will come,” is particularly true of cars, leading new roads to be clogged soon after they’re built.